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King County Adopts New Plan for Sewer Infrastructure

SEATTLE, WA-Previously, legislation limited the county's ability to charge new customers for new facilities built to accommodate growth. Recent changes, however, have allowed the county to adopt a new "capacity charge" ordinance, which will significantly increase costs recovered from new development.

By Janet Parker | Updated on October 05, 2001

SEATTLE, WA-Since 1990, King County has imposed a “capacity charge” to cover the costs of construction new sewer facilities. However, until this last year, the state legislature only allowed a flat rate of $10.50 to be charged to new King County customers whose service requires the addition of capital infrastructure. Now, beginning in 2003, new development in King County will be tagged with significantly increased charges calculated to cover 95% of the costs of new or expanded sewer facilities. The rate increase will apply to all industrial and commercial endeavors as well as residential projects. So says a 30-year plan adopted earlier this week by the Metropolitan King County Council.

Louise Miller of council District 3, chair of the Regional Water Quality Committee, says the plan will promote fairness among ratepayers by ensuring that “growth pays for growth,” an idea she says is not always popular with local developers, some of which voiced their opposition “in this latest go-round.”

Larry Phillips, vice chair, tells GlobeSt the committee attempted to work with the development community to avoid serious impacts on King County’s real estate industry. The challenge, he says, was balancing the need for new infrastructure that will allow for continued growth and development–and the voices of long-time residents who were adverse to paying $1.2 billion for a third treatment plant for the benefit of newcomers.

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